Anonymous Roses
Unknown Red Rose
Many of the roses in my garden are anonymous beauties. Sometimes a rose has been rehomed, and the previous owner didn't know the name anyway. Sometimes - oops - the name is lost in the mists of my garden memory.
Rose labels...
Rose labels may be missing if I'm grabbing a bargain at a rose sale. Or I've taken it off and stashed it in some forgotten place in the house.
My gardening journal is often more of a puzzle than a help. Say, for example, I buy in a Jaquenetta rose and faithfully record myself planting it proudly in the Hen House Garden. So far, so good. But years later it is not there. Have I shifted it into the Willow Tree garden, or has it simply passed away into the Great Rose Garden in the Sky? Hmm....
Unknown Yellow Rose
Being a rose detective is no fun. Google images may or may not help. Local nursery lists are often better guides. And there's much more to identifying a rose than thinking I've recognised a flower. My nose is hopeless for fragrance. David Austin's English roses often grow taller here than in their home country. Roses that claim to be oh so healthy can become magnets for black spot. Others with fungus warnings sail through life in my garden blemish-free.
This page is full of some of my most beautiful, most often photographed anonymous roses. Some have tentative identifications. But I wouldn't take too much notice of these! Oops.